Lessons from the Past

Remembering Sad Timesfor a Safer Tomorrow

The earliest recorded avalanche fatalities in Canada were registered in 1782, when an avalanche struck an Aboriginal community at Nain, Labrador. The details of many more are lost in the mists of time. Each disaster is a story worth remembering and contains a lesson worth heeding. Today, more people than ever travel through or live near avalanche terrain. History has shown that all need to be aware of the potential danger.

New Year's Eve Celebration Becomes a Nightmare

Date

Location

Lat, Long

Deaths

Category | Subcategory

Jan 1, 1999

Kangiqsualujjuaq, QC

56.000, -123.000

9

Recreation | Backcountry skiing, self-propelled

Ninety minutes past midnight, an avalanche struck amid celebrations
welcoming the New Year in this northern community. Hitting a school
from the rear, the slide engulfed people gathered outside, knocked
holes through the school walls and partially filled the gymnasium.

Site of the Kangiqsualujjuaq Avalanche Tragedy

Kangiqsualujjuaq Avalanche Tragedy. The toll was staggering: 9 dead, including 5 children aged 22 months to eight years. 25 more were injured.

Rescuers Search for Avalanche Victims

On January 1, 1999, the remote Northern Quebec community of Kangiqsualujjuaq awoke to the tragic news of an early-morning avalanche that came down the mountainside and through the wall of a gymnasium full of people having a party. 5 children and 4 adults died. Courtesy Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 1999.

Living in Deadly Places

Date

Location

Lat, Long

Deaths

Category/Subcategory

March 11, 1912

Tilt Cove, near Baie Verte, NL

49.883, -114.962

5

Industry | Mining

For the people in two houses, it was a time of brutal shock as their sanctuaries disintegrated into places of pain and sorrow. Five died including a father, a son, a brother and sister, and a family servant, Emily, who shielded another child from death.

Tilt Cove Avalanche

Scenes like this have been repeated many times along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador and throughout Canada's avalanche country.

Attacking from the rear, the snowslide caved in walls, tore through rooms and blasted out front windows. A torn roof lay upside down on the snow like a discarded eggshell. Tilt Cove, NL, 1912. Courtesy of the MacKinnon family, Revelstoke Museum & Archives 5538.

Home of Francis Williams, Tilt Cove

The Williams' house before the avalanche. The slide came from the cliffs behind the houses in this tiny mining community.

On Canada's Doorstep - The Palm Sunday Avalanche

Date

Location

Lat, Long

Deaths

Category | Subcategory

April 3, 1898

Chilkoot Pass, Crater Lake, BC

59.70644, -135.22324

68

Transportation | Trails, Roads and Highways

Chilkoot Pass on the Canada-United States Boundary – April 3, 1898. An endless line of Klondike gold rushers trudging up the steep snow-covered Chilkoot Pass sets the scene for North America's second-worst avalanche disaster on Palm Sunday, 1898. Aboriginal packers warned of the avalanche danger that day. Many stampeders forged on. A series of slides claimed about 68 lives.

Chilkoot Pass

Heavily burdened on a grueling slope, the stampeders were within sight of the Canadian boundary when the avalanches struck.

Michel Trudeau Swept Into Kokanee Lake

Date

Location

Lat, Long

Deaths

Category | Subcategory

Jan 1, 1999

Kokanee Lake, BC

49.748, -117.177

1

Recreation | Backcountry Skiing

When a small avalanche pushed Michel Trudeau onto the thin ice over Kokanee Lake, he broke through while still wearing skis, poles and pack. Unable to reach shore, the crystal-clear waters within the spectacular wilderness sanctuary of Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park became his gravesite.

Kokanee Lake

Michel Trudeau's tragic death brought avalanche safety into sharp focus for Canadians across the nation.

Dried Tears Led to Better Safety

Date

Location

Lat, Long

Deaths

Category | Subcategory

February 1, 2003

Connaught Creek, BC

51.29536, -117.55214

7

Recreation | Backcountry Skiing

Revelstoke is no stranger to grieving the loss of life to avalanches. Within two weeks 14 skiers had died in the mountains this community calls home. And while all life is precious, seven were children, the hope of every nation. Their loss would be long-remembered by Canadians as a painful sorrow embedded in a tragic winter.

Tragedy Leads to Canada's Largest Provincial Avalanche Safety Program

Date

Location

Lat, Long

Deaths

Category | Subcategory

Jan 16, 1974

North Route Café, 45 km west of Terrace, BC

54.39113, -129.13106

7

Buildings/Town

It was a bad night to drive through the mountains. Highway 16 had become a traveller’s nightmare: knee-high new snow at Terrace and more snow to the west. With slides already down, eight marooned people waited at the service centre. With dawn, another avalanche obliterated their refuge. Seven died in the avalanche-churned snow, buried as much as 8 m deep.

North Route Café Avalanche.

A mix of housing debris, large trees and snow up to 8 metres deep complicated the search at North Route Café, January 16, 1974.

The Superstorm of 1910

Superstorm strikes the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest, February 24 to March 5, 1910 - For ten brutal days, storm-after-storm strode across North America’s western mountains. Extraordinary quantities of snow and rising temperatures fueled an avalanche cycle unparalleled in the continent’s history. The death tally was staggering. Ten slides claimed at least 180 people: 59 in Canada and 121 in the United States.

Day 1: February 24, 1910

Cornucopia, OR

Weather at Glacier, BC

Max Temp-20 °C

Daily Snowfall38.1 cm

Total Snowfall38.1 cm

Avalanches

Weather

to date

today

location(lat, long)

fatalities today

fatalities to date

location

max temp

total snowfall

daily snowfall

1

1

Rogers Pass, BC(51.2871, -117.5160)

-

1

Rogers Pass

-20 °C

38.1 cm

38.1

Cornucopia, OR(45.0127, -117.2135)

1

Day 2: February 25, 1910

Cascade Tunnel, WA

Weather at Glacier, BC

Max Temp-13.3 °C

Daily Snowfall17.8 cm

Total Snowfall55.9 cm

Avalanches

Weather

to date

today

location(lat, long)

fatalities today

fatalities to date

location

max temp

total snowfall

daily snowfall

2

1

Merritt, WA(47.7811, -120.8419)

-

3

Rogers Pass

-13.3 °C

55.9 cm

17.8 cm

Cascade Tunnel, WA(47.7716, -121.164)

2

Telma(47.8400, -120.8144)

-

Day 3: February 26, 1910

Adair, MT

Weather at Glacier, BC

Max Temp-6.7 °C

Daily Snowfall7.6 cm

Total Snowfall63.5 cm

Avalanches

Weather

to date

today

location(lat, long)

fatalities today

fatalities to date

location

max temp

total snowfall

daily snowfall

3

1

Katches No. 1, WA(47.2643, -121.2059)

-

6

Rogers Pass

-6.7 °C

63.5 cm

7.6 cm

Gaynor, WA(47.7805, -120.9372)

-

Saltees, MT(47.4103, -115.5086)

-

Saltees, MT(47.4103, -115.5086)

-

Adair, MT(48.6972, -114.1926)

3

Day 4: February 27, 1910

Mace, ID

Weather at Glacier, BC

Max Temp-3.9 °C

Daily Snowfall25.4 cm

Total Snowfall88.9 cm

Avalanches

Weather

to date

today

location(lat, long)

fatalities today

fatalities to date

location

max temp

total snowfall

daily snowfall

4

18

Bear Creek, BC(51.3323, -117.4516)

-

1

Rogers Pass

3.9 °C

88.9 cm

25.4 cm

Gaynor, WA(47.7805, -120.9372)

-

Bern No. 1, WA (47.7661, -121.0016)

-

Katches No.2, WA (47.2643, -121.2059)

-

Mace, ID (47.518, -115.822)

12

Bear Gulch, ID (43.6827, -114.2161)

-

Paragon Mine, ID (47.6052, -115.736816)

-

Seedar Creek, ID (47.5944, -115.7963)

-

Fielding, MT(48.2769, -113.4482)

-

Highgate Siding, MT(48.2471, -113.4806)

-

Highgate Siding, MT(48.2471, -113.4806)

-

Drexel, MT(47.327, -115.253)

-

Day 5: February 28, 1910

Burke, ID

Weather at Glacier, BC

Max Temp-1.1 °C

Daily Snowfall17.8 cm

Total Snowfall106.7 cm

Avalanches

Weather

to date

today

location(lat, long)

fatalities today

fatalities to date

location

max temp

total snowfall

daily snowfall

5

1

Burke, ID(47.3113, -115.4913)

5

23

Rogers Pass

-1.1 °C

106.7 cm

17.8 cm

Day 6: March 1, 1910

Wellington, Drury, Roslyn, WA

Weather at Glacier, BC

Max Temp-1.1 °C

Daily Snowfall22.9 cm

Total Snowfall129.6 cm

Avalanches

Weather

to date

today

location(lat, long)

fatalities today

fatalities to date

location

max temp

total snowfall

daily snowfall

8

3

Wellington, WA(47.7716, -121.164)

96

121

Rogers Pass

-1.1 °C

129.6 cm

22.9 cm

Drury, WA(47.6342, -120.7270)

1

Roslyn, WA (47.2250, -121.0030)

1

Rogers Pass, BC(51.2871, -117.5160)

-

North America’s Worst Avalanche Accident

At one location, 98 died in North America’s worst avalanche accident. The avalanche descended on buildings and stranded trains at Wellington on the Great Northern Railway on the west side of Stevens Pass, Washington State, USA.

Remembering 1910: Days of Sorrow Around the World.

As news of the tragedy spread, grief stretched across both countries and to the homelands of the victims across the Pacific and Atlantic. In Canada most of the deceased were buried in Revelstoke and Vancouver. Thirty-two of the Rogers Pass victims were contract workers from Japan. Multicultural memorials were held in Vancouver, Revelstoke and Rogers Pass on the Centennial of the slide in 2010.

Remembering the Victims

Funeral procession for 58 victims of the Rogers Pass slide held March 18, 1910 in Revelstoke.

What We've Learned

Knowledge, preparedness and humility

These tragedies make the lesson clear: never underestimate an avalanche. Whether large or small,
reoccurring yearly or just once in a century, snow avalanches can overwhelm people, vehicles and
buildings with devastating power. Knowledge, preparedness, and humility are keys to safety in avalanche country.